A Boring Dystopia

But they are happy to eat at Burger King. The food is good enough for them, but the people making the food aren't.

His job isn't good enough, his employer, Burger King, treated him like shit for 27 years paying bottom of the barrel wages to the point where he couldn't afford a down payment or mortgage on a house.

It doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a house, anyone who works full time should be able to afford a house. It doesn't have to be a big luxurious house, but they should be able to own a place big enough for themselves and their dependents a reasonable distance from work.

I wonder what is most to blame, 1) real wage deflation, 2) real wealth deflation or 3) rising cost of living

If he really wanted a house he would have just hustled more, like getting 3 extra full time jobs, or selling some organs. Stop rewarding lazy uncommitted people that are scared of the grind.

Also, Burger King decided long ago he doesn't deserve a house, regardless of how hard he works or how few days he calls in for. That's Corporate Greed, and it's insatiable.

It kind of mirrors the story of Typhoid Mary in a way, where it's thought that one of the reasons why she kept going back to work as a cook, spreading Typhoid fever, was because she was homeless and on the verge of poverty.

Presumably, if she had been offered an out that wasn't being institutionalised, and locked up on an island for indefinite quarantine, or risky surgery, she might have taken it, and the story would have never panned out.

I don't know if I like this interpretation, I mean it's true and i don't like it, but it puts blame on him for the fucked up system... With the shitty pay and hours of fast food we don't know if missing even one day of work means he couldn't pay bills.

Even in an ideal fully automated luxury gay space communist society, nothing is ever truly completely automated, you'll need some people you can count on to be there to push the buttons every day. This is one of those people, our society just wastes him.

Worst part is he’s probably better off than most people working at Burger King since his restaurant is unionized.

That Burger King should be ashamed of himself. He such a benevolent king.

Instead of “gofundme” we should call it “taxes”

No that's stupid. If we used the natural wealth of the planet to ensure a comfortable life for everyone, how would a small proportion of people live extravagantly without actually contributing anything? Don't you understand economics?

I like that idea. We build a community social system of shared resources - maybe even owned by the people working the jobs. Why has no one ever thought of it? I'm sure everyone in the world would get on board.

Despite having health insurance I've lost my life savings three times now to medically necessary surgery that my insurance only covered a portion of. Insurance that cost a quarter of my income.

When I was in my twenties, I got a hernia. 16k out of pocket.

A bit later, a chair at work collapsed and I broke my wrist, workers comp paid for everything treatment wise including physical therapy, my wrist is still messed up, but workers comp showed me that actual medical care IS possible.

In my thirties, I broke both my ankles when I was knocked down some stairs on the way to catch a bus to work. I went to work, worked 6 hours on broken ankles and then took a bus to the hospital that decided my insurance would only cover one, and the other one was going to be mostly out of pocket. 12k out of pocket.

and then had a polyp on my vocal cord. Health insurance covered about 2000 of that leaving me with an 8k bill. My supplemental Aflac insurance covered the cost of a taxi (up to 40 dollars one way!) to the doctor for follow up appointments.

Now I can't walk right, can't lift shit, and can barely afford insurance, I need a follow up surgery for my hernia and I'm better off losing my job and going on medicaid than trying to keep a job and pay for it myself.

I'll be renting forever